An experiment has been performed on K meson-proton interactions
using the 72" Alvarez liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. As part of that experiment
the University ·of Illinois group investigated the following topologies:
2-prong, 2-prong with 1 kink, and O-prong with an associated vee. In
particular, the reactions K + P -+ R + N + rr are reported here.
A sample of 30,000 frames containing 11,111 2-prong events was
used, with measurements being done on SMP's. These reactions are found to
be dominated by K*(890)N production. Some evidence is also found for
N*(1236)R and Yo*(1520)rr
o
production, and slight amounts of Yt(1660)rr and
Y1*(1765)rr are seen. A backward peaking is seen to exist in the production
angular distribution of the K*-(Rorr-). No evidence for this backward
peaking is found in the other KNrr final states. The production and decay
angular distributions of the K*(890) indicate that the R*on final state is
produced predominantly by an exchange of a pseudosca1ar meson of small mass,
probably the pion. The R*-p final states show less marked evidence for
_*0 peripheral production than does the K n final state. If the one-particle
exchange model is hypothesized as a contributing mechanism, the R*-p final
states appear to have a large amount of T = 0 vector meson exchange contributing
to their production. This could be either the ill or ~ meson.